THE oil-rich Gulf state has faced international criticism for its controversial kafala system which ties migrant workers to their employers, making it difficult for them to leave the country.

QATAR'S World Cup slaves are to be freed, the oil-rich Gulf state has claimed.

Officials say they are getting rid of the country’s controversial kafala system – weeks after the Sunday Mail exposed the shocking conditions endured by migrant workers.

Kafala ties migrant workers to a single employer, leaving them open to abuse and virtual imprisonment.

Shadow international development secretary Jim Murphy said yesterday: “If it’s going to be abolished, it’s fantastic news and a real triumph for the Sunday Mail. Kafala is modern day slavery.”

Murphy went to Qatar with the Sunday Mail last month to probe the abuse of migrants working on the preparations for the 2022 World Cup.

Our story, which was followed up by the Washington Post, heaped pressure on Qatar and Fifa to end the “unacceptable” suffering of employees building roads, hotels and stadiums.

Murphy said: “We met a lot of men who were trapped in Qatar because of kafala.

“One man hadn’t seen his six-year-old son since he was a baby because his employer had left the country and vanished with his passport.

“He couldn’t get a new job to earn the money to go home. He was a trapped slave.”

James Lynch of Amnesty International sounded a note of caution about the promised changes.

He said: “Our biggest issue is that the government are trying to claim that this is an abolition of the kafala system and that is evidently not the case when you actually look at the reform that they are proposing.

“It’s a reorganisation and repackaging of kafala but for a migrant worker the system is still open to abuse by their employers.

“After all the pressure put on Qatar by international organisations and media such as the Sunday Mail, their government still haven’t felt able to abolish the exit permit – and that to us is the critical thing that we’ve been asking for.”